1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of network services. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved architecture for providing fault tolerant data communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, streaming is a mechanism for playing back audio and/or video content over a network in real-time, typically used in situations where network bandwidth is limited. The basic streaming concept is that the destination (e.g., a client) begins to play back the underlying streaming file from a buffer before the entire file has been received from its source.
A traditional network streaming system is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, one or more clients 150, 160, configured with streaming application software such as RealPlayer® from RealNetworks® or Windows Media® Player from Microsoft® Corporation, communicate with one or more streaming servers 110, 111, . . . N, over a network 100 (e.g., the Internet). The group of streaming servers 110, 111, . . . N, are located together at a point of presence (“POP”) site 130. Each of the streaming servers 110, 111, . . . N, may store a copy of the same streaming data or, alternatively, may store different streaming data, depending on the configuration at the POP site 130.
In operation, when a client 150 requests a particular streaming file from a server at the POP site 120, the request is received by a load balancer module 130, which routes the request to an appropriate streaming server 111. Which server is “appropriate” may depend on where the requested file is stored, the load on each server 110, 111, . . . N, and/or the type of streaming file requested by the client (e.g., Windows Media format or RealPlayer format). Once the file has been identified by the load balancer 120 on an appropriate server—server 111 in the illustrated example—it is streamed to the requesting client 150 (represented by stream 140) through the network 100.